Anyone have experience with Section 8 in Salt Lake?

Question

I have a 4 plex under contract and the current tenants are on a Section 8 lease. I have a bunch of questions because I have never dealt with Section 8 myself. I have contacted the Housing Authority that runs the Section 8 program and they were not helpful at all.  I am hoping to find someone with experience dealing with Section 8 in the Salt Lake area that I could buy lunch, coffee or an hour of their time to help answer some questions. Thanks in advance for any leads!

Jeremiah Maughan · Answer

You can call me. I'm happy to help.  I've had section 8 tenants for about 12 years and I'm guessing around 40 or 50 of our rental units receive section 8 assistance in some form.  One of my managers in particular is extremely well versed since she's the one with about 25 of them and I'm sure she'd b happy to meet.  We're primarily in Utah County but the process is similar among the different housing authorities..  Generally the process works well but it's slow and there is an entire secondary lease that is required, there is a ceiling to rents they can pay, there is a separate inspection process required, there are limitations to inspecting occupied units, etc etc etc.  The best part though is that the Utah state legislature just passed a recovery fund to help landlords who have been financially harmed by section 8 tenants.  So that has made renting to section 8 much less financially risky.

Taylor Chiu · Answer

Hey @Andy Jacobsen, congrats on the fourplex! I have some section 8 tenants out in Milwaukee, and at the beginning of this month signed a lease with my first Section 8 tenant here in SLC. Things have been smooth so far.

The process is a little cumbersome at first, but looking back at it, it's not all that complicated once you've gone through it once (or had it explained well).

I'd be glad to meet up to discuss if you'd like!

Taylor Chiu · Answer

Sorry you had such bad experiences Darren! If you are investing in nicer A/B level properties, I would agree that section 8 doesn't make much sense in Utah. However, we have a C level fourplex on the west side of SLC, and 2 of the units are rented by section 8 tenants. We have not had any major headaches in the couple years of renting to them, and the extra cashflow more than justifies the extra paperwork on the front end.

Account Closed · Answer

After 20 years a a landlord in Salt Lake City, Utah here are my observations about section 8.  I rent 4-5 bed homes not apartments.  90% of my bad tenant, nightmare stories over the years have been with section 8.  I'm a slow learner so it took me 10 years to get the memo that it is a bad idea.  Duh!

1.  Most of renters are mothers with several children who have no jobs and the husbands or boyfriends are in jail for drug dealing or for beating up the children's mothers. 100% of my section 8 tenants used illegal drugs.

2.  When the husbands or boyfriends get out of jail they move back into the home and beat up the women and start dealing drugs again.

3. Utah Housing Section 8 pays lower rents, are slow to deal with, and do not guarantee rent and do not fix broken homes after the tenant has moved out.

4.  I did have the section 8 office cut aid to a tenant 2 weeks after they moved into a home because the tenants were committing housing fraud.  I immediately had the worst eviction of my life.  Another of my section 8 tenants' 15 year old son murdered another boy with a pistol.

5.  So if you enjoy drug dealing, wife beating criminals in your units, then section 8 is the way to go!  With this market in Utah there is simple no reason to rent to a section 8 tenant.

Just my 2 cents.

Darren

Sam Newell · Answer

@Andy Jacobsen I don't have much experience but the two fourplexes that my clients have purchased with Section 8 leases in place have gone well.  They're not late on rent and do frequent check  ups on the property.  I'd reach out to a proeprty manager like Rese or RMX Equity to see what their experiences have been.  Good luck! I'm listing a triplex and a fourplex this week in Utah county, let me know if you're still in the market

Andy Jacobsen · Answer

Thank you all for reaching out and your quick responses!  BP is awesome!

Anyone have experience with Section 8 in Salt Lake?

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